Day 4 - The Great Scottish Tour

Fort William to Isle of Skye

As usual we got on the road at dawn (mostly to avoid other tourists) and headed to Urquhart Castle on the shores of the famed Loch Ness. 

We arrived before the castle grounds opened, so we went into the nearby village of Drumnadrochit and stopped by the Loch Ness museum, featuring the infamous Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. It wasn’t open yet either, so we went into the gift shop – which featured anything and everything you could imagine with Nessie on it..

Eventually we made it back to Urquhart Castle 

...and had a extremely interesting tour of the ancient grounds and the structures that were build, torn down (by friend or foe) and rebuilt over and over and over again throughout the centuries. 

 The Castle is now considered ‘ruins’, but that didn’t stop the tour guide from weaving all kinds of mystical tales.

 Unfortunately no sign of Nessie, these were the only creatures we saw in the Loch.

It must have been the day for castle hopping. Our next stop was Eilean Donan Castle, which is still occupied, but parts are open to the public.

Like any castle, occupied or not, we are always amazed at how people lived and the ingenious ways they found to make their lives more comfortable.

Our destination for the day was the Isle of Skye, and it’s reported beauty didn’t disappoint.

Once we drove “over the sea to Skye” via the Skye bridge, the landscape changed completely. 

We circled the island stopping at Lealt Falls, Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls.

 We took a not-so-crowded scenic road from Staffin to Uig.

Then down through Portree to Sleat. Uncrowded, except for the sheep...

 ...to the Hotel Eilean Larmain, one of our favorite stops of the trip.

The attached pub had incredible food (yep, fish and chips again)

...and we spent the rest of the night listening to a local band (called Iron Midden) play Scottish folk tunes. 

This was what we were looking for on this trip, and though I couldn’t get them to sing the "Skye Boat Song", they didn’t disappoint.